It’s hard to believe that the Secret War II crossover event began thirty years ago this month—in July 1985. This was the first big crossover event in Marvel history, with parts of the story spreading out over nearly all of Marvel’s titles. Some critics don’t review the story very positively, but as a child of the 1980s reading the story in the 1980s, I loved it. Even the Beyonder’s mullet.

The High Evolutionary has always been one of my favorite and, in my humble opinion, far underused super villains. The last major storyline that he played a part in, as far as I can recall, was the “Evolutionary War” storyline that ran through the 1988 Marvel annuals.

The High Evolutionary left Earth for Counter-Earth (a duplicate planet sharing Earth’s orbit but always on the opposite side of the Sun) years ago. This five-issue mini-series follows Quicksilver on a trip to Counter-Earth in search of the true origins of his sister Scarlet Witch, and himself. A joint team of X-Men (Rogue, Sabretooth) and Avengers (Vision, Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Doctor Voodoo) pursue him to Counter-Earth.

There, the Unity Division is separated. Some are captured and others discover that the High Evolutionary has continue to develop the New Men, building and destroying entire civilizations in his quest for evolutionary perfection. The few survivors of this periodic mass extinction have set up a camp for themselves, under the leadership of one who calls himself the Low Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary has also created a super-powered woman named Luminous.

There are a number of interesting subplots among the various separated heroes as they work their way back together for the final battle with the High Evolutionary in issue 5. This review will not spoil everything, so please check out the issues on your own.

The “big reveal” of the series concerns the true origins of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. They are not the children of Magneto, though you can probably guess. Unlike some of the fan theories, they are not Inhumans either.

Another interesting aspect: there are a few interactions that may hint toward a new relationship between the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. Nothing is overt, and it might just be indicative of their friendship, but it might be indicative of something more.

I enjoyed the entire series. The story is fairly strong, though some of the subplots seem like filler material with no long-term effects. The art is very well done as well. Highly recommended.

During the past week there has been quite a bit of controversy over Iceman’s retconned/alternate-continuity homosexuality. This reminds me of a number of other times that Marvel Comics has printed stories designed to stir up controversy.

Captain America quits!

Captain America vol. 1, no. 332 (August 1987)

To some degree foreshadowing parts of the “Civil War” plot, back in 1987, the Pentagon demanded that Steve Rogers (Captain America) become an official agent of the U. S. government. Rather than accept these terms, Rogers turned in his mask and shield, retiring as Captain America.

In the coming issues, another superhero called the Super-Patriot (John Walker) was appointed the new Captain America. Rogers would soon don a very cool-looking black version of the Captain America uniform and a different shield, and fight crime under the moniker of “The Captain.” Hey, the black costume worked for Spider-man (see below) so why not give it a shot with Cap?

Walker’s Captain America didn’t have the same moral code as Rogers, though, and was decidedly more violent and brutal. After killing a group of villains, Walker resigned and Rogers once again became Captain America (in issue no. 350). Walker eventually returned (to the West Coast Avengers) as “U. S. Agent,” wearing the black costume of “The Captain.” Though ultimately temporary, this change actually lasted 18 issues!

Gay Canadian super-hero?

Alpha Flight vol. 1, no. 106 (March 1992)

The controversy over Iceman isn’t the first time that a super-hero’s sexuality was an issue. Twenty-three years ago, the first mainstream super-hero came out of the closet.

Northstar was a founding member of the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight. In this issue, he came out of the closet: quite literally announcing, “I’m gay.”

This was quite a big deal, because at that time, Marvel still adhered to the Comics Code Authority, which had only been revised to allow for the depiction of homosexuals in 1989. Neither Marvel or DC had yet taken advantage of this revision until Northstar.

On the other hand, the impact was (probably intentionally) minimal. Alpha Flight was not a terribly popular book, and the team only occasionally interacted with the other, American, super-heroes.

One of the most popular gimmicks in comics has been the dramatic costume change/update. Marvel did this with quite a few characters in the mid- to late-1980s.

The most famous, of course, was Spider-Man. Though gaining his new black costume during the mega-crossover event Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, the costume made its first main-title appearance in issue 252 (May 1984), released a few months earlier.

The black costume was so popular that, even after it was discovered to be a parasitic alien creature (not truly a “symbiote” as it was called), Spidey wore a cloth version for a while longer, while also occasionally also wearing his original blue and red design.

Another strange appearance change (or two) occurred in Fantastic Four. Ben Grimm’s Thing had always struggled with nature of his “power.” In 1988 he and Ms. Marvel were both zapped with cosmic rays, causing Ms. Marvel to turn into the Thing from the team’s early days, while Grimm developed sharper rocky growths on his body. Eventually they were healed and returned to normal.

Other appearance changes around this same time include Thor’s beard and the red-and-white Iron Man armor.

Mrs. Spider-Man

Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) Annual no. 21 (1987)

In 1987 Spidey married Mary Jane Watson. It was front-page news even in the mainstream press.

This issue also marked one of the first uses of variant cover art. One edition had Peter Parker and Mary Jane standing at the altar; the other had Spidey (in costume) and Mary Jane standing at the altar.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments what your favorite “jumping the shark” Marvel moment was, whether one of these or something else.